These cars made feeling gush!

Datsun 240Z

2013-01-11 02:55:06

The Datsun 240Z which is also known as Fairlady Z at the Japanese market or Nissan S30 was a tremendous success of the company Datsun. The design of this model was created under the direction of Fumio Yashida at Nissan in 1966. Then it was noticed by Yutaka Katayama who was responsible for American market of Nissan. He thought that Datsun 240Z would be profitable for West Coast performance of Nissan.

However, Katayama was set on the idea that a closed non-convertible car with only two seats would work better for their outlet in USA. Therefore, the new version of the sports car was finally produced in the autumn of 1969. Its main advantage was comparatively low price for similar features, in comparison to Jaguar or Porsche cars. Also, it changed the name in the USA for Datsun 240Z, but it was called the same, Fairlady Z, in Japan. This car appeared in proper time when the age of muscle cars was about to end, but Datsun 240Z could offer a 2.4-litre six-cylinder engine with 151 horsepower. It was quite impressive, as this sports car reached a speed of a hundred kilometres an hour in just eight seconds.Datsun 240Z had independent front and rear suspension consisting of MacPherson struts that were used in Nissan Laurel C30 and Chapman struts. Disc brakes were standard and steering control was "rack and pinion"-type. The vehicle weighed just a little more than a ton.It was planned to sell 1,600 cars in the USA every month, but the first year of sales reached almost 10,000, missing only three cars. The shipping was limited to 2,500 Datsun 240Zs a month by the middle of 1971. If Nissan could have more manufacturing facilities, 4,000 cars could have been sold monthly at the American market.

We hope that a new dawn of Datsun will begin soon as this brand is going to be released again in Russia. And there is no doubt that Nissan will bring us the joy of meeting with the updated legendary Datsun 240Z Fairlady which elegance and style became iconic, but still unusual for the mass-market.